


Shadows Puppets And A Bird In Flight

by nvmsl



Series: The Art of War (Nejiten) [2]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Angst, Battle, Blood, Character Death, Crying, Death, F/M, Family, Final Battle, Heartbreak, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Post-War, Red String of Fate, Relationship(s), Romance, Sacrifice, Sad, Secret Relationship, War, Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:20:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22471717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nvmsl/pseuds/nvmsl
Summary: ***ANGSTY!! WOOT WOOT don't read if you don't like angsty stuff***"What's your favorite shadow puppet?""I like all of them.""That's a lie. You must have a favorite.""Okay, fine. It's like this..."“Oh! Is that a bird? That's amazing! Why though?”“Because I hope to be like a bird one day. I'll be waiting for that day, when this will all be over, and I’ll be free. And the first thing I’ll do as a free man is make you my wife.”*****To witness the death of a lover— it's something no one deserves to go through.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Series: The Art of War (Nejiten) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593565
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Shadows Puppets And A Bird In Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I lied. I've watched like all the Naruto movies, a select number of the Shippuden's episodes, and all of Boruto. 
> 
> I love this anime. 
> 
> And I love Nejiten even more. 
> 
> That's why my heart hurts so much whenever I think of them. 
> 
> Anyways, enough from me. Enjoy!

_ **Shadow Puppets** _

_***_

_Neji would never admit it, but he was fascinated by shadow puppets. The first time he saw Shikamaru move the shadows, he was just nine years old, and he had demanded Shikamaru to teach him the jutsu. And when Shikamaru saw how unhappy Neji was when he realized that it was a secret clan jutsu, he offered to teach the Hyuga prodigy how to make easy shadow puppets._

_The first shadow puppet that Neji learned was that of a bird in flight._

*** 

_When Neji was thirteen years old, a couple of months after the Chunin exams, he, Tenten, and Lee were sent out on a C-ranked mission to escort a traveler to the next village. The three were offered a room in a local inn to stay the night, and so they laid out their mats next to each other, three in a row, with Tenten in between him and Lee._

_That night, Tenten caught Neji making intricate signs with his fingers in the moonlight. She acted like she was asleep and watched as Neji moved his fingers in twisting patterns. And somewhere along the lines of watching Neji, she fell asleep._

_When she woke the next day, she remembered the finger patterns but was too shy to ask Neji what they meant. And so she didn’t._

***

_The first night that Neji stayed over after they made love, she woke in the middle of the night and found him making intricate signs with his finger, lifting them to the moonlight._

_“What are you doing?” she asked, bleary-eyed and tired. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”_

_“Couldn’t,” he had replied. “Making shadow puppets is more fun.”_

_Tenten had snuggled up against him and murmured a soft “okay” before falling back asleep, not even realizing what shadow puppets were._

***

_When Tenten realized what shadow puppets were, she had asked Neji which was his favorite one. It was late in the night, and Neji had laughed out loud, running his hand through her brown hair, which was spilling across the pillows._

_"I like all of them."_

_"That's a lie. You must have a favorite."_

_"Okay, fine. It's like this..." He'd smiled brightly, before lifting his fingers to the sky and moving them together, thumbs intertwined and palms open, pointing away from each other and fingers curling slowly. He directed Tenten’s gaze to the wall._

_“Oh! Is that a bird? That's amazing! Why though?”_

_“Because I hope to be like a bird one day. I'll be waiting for that day, when this will all be over, and I’ll be free. And the first thing I’ll do as a free man is make you my wife.”_

***

When Neji dies, Tenten is eighteen years old, three and a half weeks engaged, and wholly unprepared. 

She’s at the frontlines, holding her ground— and doing it quite well on her own— against a significantly larger opponent, but suddenly, a cold fist is wrapping around her heart and leaving her gasping momentarily. Something’s wrong, she knows it, and she hurls another wave of weapons from her scroll at her opponent before turning a full circle, until her eyes land on three people that are down on their knees on the battlefield. 

The bright yellow of Naruto’s hair catches her eyes first, and when she sees the tears in pouring out of Hinata’s eyes, she jerks back in surprise and the enemy she’s fighting nearly takes off her head. But then Naruto shifts, just a little bit, and the pale eyes of Neji’s meet hers, and suddenly, the world is slipping from under her feet; she’s dropping her scrolls and one of her buns is becoming undone, red ribbon falling to the ground. But none of it matters because Neji is so far away, and there’s so much blood and all she can hear are the sounds of a broken promise and she can already feel the weight of a black kimono brushing roughly against her skin, and the only thing she can think is Neji— that, and the fact that the only reason why she hasn’t died yet is because Lee’s taken down her opponent and is guarding her back. 

Her brown eyes meet Hyuga whites and they are filling with tears as her left hand covers her mouth in shock. The sky is dark and cloudy, but the golden ring on her left hand glints at her mockingly. A throbbing sensation moves through her chest, and Tenten flinches at the force of it. 

At the moment, the flood of enemies is pausing as every shinobi on the battlefield watches the three shinobi on the ground. The enemy is grinning maliciously, watching it all play out. Tenten is about 25 yards away, close enough to see Neji’s face, but far enough to not be able to hear anything he says. She can see that Neji’s saying something, and his eyes are holding hers. She knows that the words aren’t meant for her; Neji’s too far away for her to actually hear anything that he says, and if the words were meant for her, Neji wouldn’t be tilting his head toward Naruto’s ears. 

But then, Neji’s tilting back his head to face her, and Tenten can feel the blood pounding through her ears. The Hyuga prodigy is wheezing now, but his eyes are still cutting through the battlefield to Tenten’s, and he’s saying something that Tenten can’t hear. But from the way that Naruto and Hinata both flinch and begin to look in her direction, and the movement of Neji’s lips, Tenten knows what he’s saying. She's seen it enough to hear it from a battlefield away. Those lips were moving the same way they did that day under the cherry blossoms, the same way they did during those nights that they shared, the smiles they shared on missions, and when Neji knelt down on one knee. She could recognize it anywhere. 

_I love you. I love you. I love you._

She can’t move. She wants to run to her lover— she thinks, if Neji can’t bring himself to her, then she will bring herself to him— but her legs are stuck to the ground, rooted into the dirt underneath her sandals. A kunai hangs limply from her left hand, her blood dripping down the length of it and watering the ground beside her feet. The red ribbon lying on the ground next to her sandals soaks up what it can, the blood turning it a dark crimson. 

Tenten doesn’t notice any of it. She doesn’t notice the way that Ino is the first to break her gaze from dying the prodigy and turn her gaze to the weapons specialist with tears in her eyes as well. She doesn’t see Sakura’s clenched fists or the way Sakura bites the inside of her cheek because the medic's losing another patient, a patient that was a close friend of hers. Tenten doesn’t notice Lee’s tears or his arm around on her shoulder, as he supports her from the right and keeps her from completely collapsing. 

Tenten doesn’t notice the sorrow in Choji and Shikamaru’s eyes as they stand tall, backs straight, reminded of the times Neji would tell them to lose their slouchiness. She doesn’t notice how Shino takes off his glasses to pay his respects for Neji, even though the dull light breaking through a cloudy sky must have been blinding to him, or how Kiba is pulling down his hood and closing his eyes, or how Akemaru is sitting on the side, tail hanging low. Tenten doesn’t notice that even _Temari_ of the sand is paying her respects, closing her fan and tilting her head down. 

She doesn’t notice Gai-Sensei’s horrified expression, or how Kakashi Sensei’s single exposed eye is still wide with surprise. She doesn’t notice how Hiashi mutters words in shock, and how the entire Hyuga clan has stopped moving, and how some have even fallen to their knees. 

Tenten doesn’t notice any of that, because the only thing that she can see is red, and all she can focus on is _Neji_ , _Neji_ , _Neji_ . All she can see is Neji’s eyes flickering, and the green curse mark disappearing from his forehead. It dissolves from the sides to the middle into grey ashes that float away in the air, and when the mark is completely gone, Tenten knows. She just _does_. 

There’s a throbbing ache in her chest and _oh—_ it hurts. She’s placing her hand to her chest— _Sakura said to apply pressure to the wound, and once the bleeding has ceased, take further action to clean and wrap the wound—_ but she’s pulling her hand away to check the wound, but there’s no blood, and the only blood on her hands is from the single cut on her forearm. And Tenten’s thinking, wondering, _if there’s no wound, why does it hurt so much?_

 _Be strong,_ she can hear his voice saying. _Be brave, Tenten._ The tears are pooling at her eyes, and honestly, she wants to hold them back, to be strong for her village, for her teammates, for her allies, but when Neji’s eyes close for the last time and his body falls back, slipping out of Naruto’s grip, she loses it. 

The battlefield is quiet with sorrow and respect, but the silence breaks when Tenten’s cries out Neji’s name as she falls to her knees, face buried in her hands, and sobs wracking her body. The Konoha eleven— no, once twelve, once eleven, but now ten— all tilt their heads down in a brief moment of mourning as the enemy forces begin their advances again. 

They’re grinning maniacally, mocking Naruto and taunting him. Everyone’s attention is transfixed on their words, but Tenten’s not listening. Instead, her eyes are transfixed on Neji’s dead body, lying on the ground. The ground is stained dark with Neji’s blood, and there is a line of blood that runs down his right hand to the ground. But suddenly, Naruto is running up to her and pulling her up from the ground, gripping her shoulders as a warm orange chakra encases her. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, “I— Neji told me about the two of you…” Tenten’s brown eyes are meeting with cloudy blue ones, and Naruto— a single tear runs down his cheek. His electric blue eyes flash with anger. “We will avenge Neji today.” 

Tenten doesn’t remember much after that. She remembers brief flashes of the rest of the fight— being covered by the fiery orange glow, pulling on some rope, summoning the twin dragons, something about wielding Naruto’s Rasengan, and the outline of a Hokage cloak over her green battle vest. 

Tenten doesn’t remember much about the fighting, but what she does remember everything post-battle. She remembers the dead bodies littering the field, the metallic scent of blood. She remembers the sharp jot of pain on her right ankle—it must’ve been sprain or bruised—as she slowly made her way over to Neji’s bloodied body, which was laying on its side. 

When she kneels and looks down, she realizes that Neji’s eyes are still open— just the slightest. And so she reaches out with her left hand, wiping the blood on her pants before gently turning Neji so that he’s lying on his back, chin tilted toward the sky. Tenten doesn’t realize it, but the tears are coming again, and her chest is throbbing as well. 

She leans forward and there is an audible gasp around her as she presses a long kiss to his lips— it’s their first public kiss in front of people other than their friends. Tenten doesn’t care what the Hyuga clan must be thinking at the moment. Neji with a clanless woman? Of course. It must’ve been a surprise for them. 

_Forget them_ , Tenten thinks. Neji’s lips taste salty with a twinge of bitterness, and she doesn’t care that she probably looks like a mess, and she doesn’t care about the look on Hyuga Hiashi’s face. When she pulls back, her friends are surrounding her, but she doesn’t pay attention. She reaches out her left hand again— fingers trembling, arms shaking— and that’s when a hand snakes out to grab hers, steading them. Her eyes trace the length of the arm until she finds—

_Lee._

He’s crying when he meets her eyes as well, and together, they reach down and gently close Neji’s eyes, Lee’s steady hand guiding Tenten’s trembling one. When they pull back, Neji’s eyes are closed, and it looks like he’s sleeping, except the trail of blood running down the length of his chin tells a different story. 

That’s when the drizzle begins, soft droplets of rain falling on the shinobis’ bodies until it’s a full-fledged storm, and the rain is beating down on their backs. The other ninjas begin moving quickly, wanting to get all of the bodies away from the rain and into a drier area; however, Tenten and the remaining members of the once-Konoha-twelve stay by Neji’s body, all mourning in their own way. 

_The sky is crying for the two of us,_ Tenten thinks as she looks up at the grey clouds. _Why aren’t the clouds parting? The fighting is over._

When she looks back down at Neji’s body, her face is wet from the rain, and the trail of red on Neji’s chin has been washed off. In the rain, Neji looks alive again, face clean of dirt and blood. And his forehead, it looks like…

_Because I hope to be like a bird one day. I'll be waiting for that day, when this will all be over, and I’ll be free. And the first thing I’ll do as a free man is make you my wife._

Even in her mourning, Tenten can’t help but smile. 

_Neji… you’re finally free,_ she thinks, looking up at the sky once again. _But… send me a sign, won’t you?_

When Lee pulls her into his arms, Tenten doesn’t realize how much she’s shivering, or the tightness inside her chest. The rain is beating down on her skin, but she doesn’t feel it, doesn’t feel anything, not even when Lee’s bringing her to the hospital and Sakura is wrapping a blanket around her and Ino is drying her arms with a towel. She’s unaware of her surroundings, eyes still dazed from shock as Sakura makes her lie down on a makeshift cot because there are too many wounded and too few beds. She doesn’t feel the cold when Sakura ices her ankle, or the stiffness when she wraps it. 

It’s a day and a half later when Tenten comes to her senses, and when she looks out the window, the night sky is clear, and the moonlight shines into the edge of the room, illuminating the outline of a gift basket, along with a hardcover copy of _The Art of War_ and a notepad and pen beside her cot. 

_Caw!_ A noise sounds near her, making her jerk in surprise. To her shock, a blackbird stands at the foot of her cot, its head tilting as it gazes at her. Its beak opens quickly before closing again. _Caw!_

The bird jumps onto Tenten’s leg before flapping its wings a few times, closing them, and then staring at her. Tenten, on the other hand, stares back on confusion. 

_Are you trying to tell me something?_ She asks but then chuckles at herself. _I must look like a joke._

The bird, however, is persistent and repeats its actions three more times before hopping to her left hand and tapping its beak on the golden ring. 

_Hey! What are you…_ Tenten tries to shoo the bird away but pauses in mid-swing. _I— Neji?_ Intelligent yellow eyes gaze back at her. Tenten swears she sees a softness in those eyes as the bird tilts its head again. 

The bird caws again before turning a circle and meeting her eyes again— this time, the softness in those eyes are gone, and instead, replaced by confusion. It caws again before flying out the window. Tenten reaches her hand to its black feathers, but the bird’s gone, and her vision is blurring again. She brings her hands up to her face and—

 _Oh,_ she whispers, surprised. _I’m crying._

Tenten doesn’t sleep that night. Instead, she reaches for the notepad beside her bed and starts writing. 

***

When the rest of the Konoha ten comes to see her in the morning, they find her asleep, clutching a notepad to her chest, and a broken pen in her left hand, the ink staining her fingers and the white hospital sheets. When Ino pries the notepad from Tenten’s iron grip, the group falls silent again as they read the one word that has been scrawled over and over on the stiff parchment. 

_Free._

_***_

**FIN**


End file.
